Children in York and Adams counties have tested for higher levels of lead than the state and national averages, according to data from the Center for Disease Control.

The latest data showed Adams County with a 1.5 percent rate of 5-to-9-year-old children with elevated blood levels in 2014. This is down from a 2.9 percent rate in 2013.

In York County, the rate decreased from 3.6 percent in 2012 to 2.2 percent.

Although these rates are lowering, they are still well above the national average, which has remained steady between 0.6 and 0.5 percent since 2012. The state has hovered around 1.5 percent from 2012 to 2014.

“As a society, we are behind the 8-ball,” said Nicole Toth, a pediatrician with Family First Health in Hanover.

While other childhood illnesses have decreased because of the development of immunizations, lead poisoning has remained a reactive ailment, in which people are treated after exposure.

Since lead accumulates in the body over time, exposure to lead can be hazardous for children. For example, drinking lead-contaminated water adds to the body’s burden from other sources. Those include soil contaminated with old leaded gasoline and factory waste and dust from deteriorating lead-based paint, which is often found in older homes, USAToday reported in March.

The main difference between elevated lead levels for children and adults is that a child’s brain is still developing.

“(Adults) can still have issues with lead, but it will not affect our thought processes, our behavior as much,” said Sean Campbell, a pediatrician with Pediatric Care of York.

Lead poisoning can affect nearly every system in the body. For children, exposure is significantly more grave because of potential developmental delay. Other symptoms in children include learning difficulties, weight loss and fatigue.

The lower value also allows parents, doctors, public health officials and communities to take action sooner, according to the Center for Disease Control website.

Toth is glad for the change but said that the focus should be narrowed to widespread prevention and elimination of the risk.

With children, exposure to lead most likely stems from lead paint, Campbell said. This happens when a young child is living in an older home. Lead was a common ingredient in paint in the 1950s.

Lead paint poses a risk through environmental dust and the tendency for young children to "crawl on the ground... and put things in their mouth."

"Getting lead out of the environment is the most important thing," Cambell said.

Lead testing methods

Screening is a finger or toe stick with blood drops placed directly on a paper card to be dried and mailed to an approved lab. The infant has to bleed on this paper with several circles, each circle filled in exactly with a single drop. The method can have "high positives" that will return not as high on repeat samples. The "high level" on a screen has to be confirmed with blood level by a venous stick. In most cases, the screening eliminates the need for further evaluation.

Venous samples can often be blood draws to start. The draw, through the child's veins, is performed at a lab by a phlebotomist. The lead level here is accepted, and, if higher than 5 micrograms per deciliter, education is provided to parents, and the health department is notified for a followup lab.

Some machines can check in a doctor's office, but this is more expensive and not covered by all insurance.